A claim that the National Elections Commission (NEC) will not certificate Vice President-elect Jeremiah Koung in the absence of President-Elect Joseph Boakai is false.
Fact Check By: Siaway T. Miapue | Contributor
The claim emerged after President-elect Boakai and Vice President-elect Koung were absence during the certification of winners of the 2023 Legislative and presidential elections by conducted by the NEC.
President-elect Boakai had informed NEC about his trip to the United States and requested a postponement of him and his running-mate certification to a later date. Vice President-elect Koung was also in Ghana on a private visit.
The Claim
On December 19, a Facebook user known as Togar Alexander Bealded claimed in a Facebook post that NEC won’t certify Koung in the absence of JNB. He cited OK FM, a local radio station, as his source, adding that Mr. Boakai picked Koung and not the other way around.
He wrote: “NEC says they won’t certificate Koung in the absence of JNB. ‘JNB picked Koung and not the other way around’. OK FM Source.”
Although the post has been taken down, we still opted to fact check this.
Rating Justification
To fact check this claim, we first reviewed the NEC website and official Facebook page for a statement or press release connected to the claim but did not find any information.
We then reviewed the New Election Law, an authoritative source, for any provision(s) that prohibits or prevent NEC from certifying a Vice President-elect in the absence of the President-elect, but we also did not find any evidence to support the claim.
Additionally, we contacted the Communications Department of the NEC to verify the claim. According to the NEC’s Deputy Director of Communications, Prince Dunbar, the claim is false, and the Commission has not made any statement to deny Vice President-elect Koung certification in the absence of President-elect Boakai.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted, we therefore conclude that the claim is false. The Commission has not made any statement that the Vice President-elect will not be certificated in the absence of President-elect Joseph Boakai.